TN Lawmaker Wants To Ban Celebratory Gunfire

NASHVILLE, TN — Firing a gun into the air isn't technically illegal in Tennessee, as a recent incident outside the Nashville Veterans Administration Hospital demonstrated.

On Nov. 4, a veteran, who later said he was suicidal and looking for help, shot a gun into the air a dozen times outside the VA hospital near the Vanderbilt University campus. He was not arrested, though Metro Police did cite him for altering the gun's serial number, because, according to state law, there was little else they could do.

Unless the action meets the standard for reckless endangerment — which requires the presence of other people — simply shooting a gun into the air isn't a crime. A Tennessee appellate court ruled in 1996 “merely discharging a gun, standing alone, is not sufficient to constitute commission of reckless endangerment.”

Rep. Mike Stewart, a Nashville Democrat, tried to change the law two years ago, but was unsuccessful. He told WKRN he's going to make another run at it.

“I’m a veteran. I’m the first person to say if the guy was having an episode and no one was killed maybe you give him a break,” he said. “But by shooting that weapon into the air, he absolutely could have injured or killed somebody.”

Stewart also pointed to incidents in Nashville on Independence Day where people were injured by what investigators believe may have been guns fired in celebration.

Stewart's bill would ban so-called "celebratory gunfire." In Nashville, firing a gun for any purpose inside the Urban Services District — roughly the more populated areas that were, by and large, inside the limits of the City of Nashville before Metroization — is a $50 fine. In the General Services District, firing a gun at night brings the same penalty.

Image via State of Tennessee